by Zoey Parker
Their eyes were cold and pitiless. They reminded Bax of the black water of a frozen pond he'd almost drowned in when he fell through the ice as a small child.
This must be what it feels like when a guy faces a firing squad, Bax thought. Or when he's about to be stoned to death.
“Look me in the eyes,” Skull commanded.
“Fuck that,” Tommy spat. “We all know what he did.”
“No, I want to hear it from him. I want him to stand there and look me in the eye and tell me with a straight face that he didn't fuck that girl again.” Skull crossed his arms. “Well, Bax? Go on.”
Bax sighed, knowing he might as well get it over with. “Fine. Okay. I fucked her. But it's not like that—”
“Really? What's it like, then, huh?” Harry stepped forward and got right in Bax's face, yelling. “What fairy tale horseshit are you going to try to feed us now? That it was about more than dipping your dick? That even a con man can find true love in the most unlikely places?”
Bax shrugged with a half-smile. “Heh, well, now that you mention it...”
David stared at Bax in disbelief. “Holy shit. I knew you had problems, but I had no idea it was this bad. This is all my fault. If I'd known, I'd never have let you put this con together.”
“I'm going to go make myself a nice mug of cyanide,” Millie sighed, her head sinking into her hands. “Anyone else want some?”
“You promised me.” Skull shook his head slowly in disbelief. “After all these years, after everything we've been through together, you stood there and you promised—”
“Oh, give me a motherfucking break!” Tommy stomped over to Skull, flecks of spittle spraying from his mouth as he screamed. “You stood there and believed him! I tried to warn you that this mook's word was no good, but he gives you some useless pinkie-swear of a promise and you let him off the hook! Well, I told you so, you fucking pinhead grease monkey! You hear me? I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!”
Skull spun around and punched Tommy in the face. Tommy's glasses skidded across the floor and he sat down hard, blood pouring from his nose.
“Tommy, a goddamn two-year-old could have told you that now was not the time to say that to me,” Skull growled.
Tommy stood up, wiping his nose on his sleeve and staring at everyone else in disbelief. “I don't fucking believe you people. He sends the whole plan to hell just so he can give some girl the high hard one, and I'm the one who gets punched?” He stalked over to his glasses, picking them up and wiping them off as he headed for the door. “You're crazy. All of you. I'm out of here. I should never have agreed to this scheme.”
“But you did agree to it, Tommy,” Bax called after him. “So where are you gonna go now? Back to Dallas? What do you think Old Man Parrino's gonna do once Altamura gets his shit together and tells him you were in on this? Sure, he might keep you around for a while...as a rug in front of his fireplace.”
“Then I'll just have to go on the fucking lam, won't I?” Tommy snapped. “And with barely enough money to get by on thanks to you, you horny, selfish prick. I'll probably end up pumping gas somewhere in Montana.”
“Or you could stick around, see this through, and come out of it with enough millions of dollars to buy yourself whatever life you want,” Bax countered. He tried to sound calm and in control, but his stomach felt like someone was twisting a corkscrew into it. He'd lost their trust completely, and even Skull wasn't on his side anymore.
The next few words to come out of his mouth could be the most important ones he'd ever uttered.
“Here we go.” Tommy looked at the ceiling imploringly and flapped his arms in frustration. “Here comes the next sales pitch. He's gonna try to convince us we've still got a shot at pulling this off. Lord, I'm begging you, reach down from heaven and lift me up out of this flaming lake of nonsense.”
“Actually, we've got a better shot at it than ever now,” said Bax.
Harry raised his eyebrows. “You cannot be serious.”
“May as well let him talk,” Millie mumbled. “I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a good laugh before I die.”
Skull clenched his teeth, the muscles in his jaw twitching. “This had better be good.”
“All right, look,” Bax began. “I'm not going to feed you all a bunch of rainbows-and-unicorns crap about why I needed to see her again, because you don't care and you wouldn't believe me anyway. But trust me when I tell you that if we just hang in there a little longer, we can double our money and take Altamura out of the picture permanently...now that we've got someone on the inside.”
“Oh my fucking God,” Harry blurted out, his hand going to his mouth. “Do you hear what this lunatic is saying? He's telling us that he told the daughter all about this.”
“You didn't,” Skull breathed, his eyes widening. “Fuck, Bax, no, please, you didn't do that.”
“You're goddamn right I did, and you're all going to thank me for it.”
The entire warehouse reacted with a chorus of groans and curses. Several crumpled beer cans were hurled in Bax's direction, making him duck and flinch.
Skull scowled at him. “If you honestly think a girl's gonna be more loyal to some dude she barely knows than to her own father, then I gotta hand it to you, 'cause you fooled me into thinking you weren't a moron for one hell of a long time.”
“You only think that because you don't know what I know. I've spent time with this girl. I've heard her whole story. You think you've got a beef with Altamura? A couple of knuckle sandwiches and a lousy quarter mil? Man, this guy has completely fucked up Stef's life from the moment she was born. He controls what she eats, what she wears, where she goes, even who she talks to. He's willing to marry her off to someone she doesn't even like, for Christ's sake! She wants to see him eat shit even more than we do, and she'll do anything to help us make it happen. And can you think of a more effective weapon for us to use against him? Can you think of a better way to completely erase him as a threat than by stealing every penny he's got and his daughter too? Forget coming after any of us—Benny won't have time. He'll be too busy running from everyone who ever had a grudge against him, and that's if he doesn't just give up and hang himself with his shoelaces.”
Bax looked around, trying to gauge the reaction from his audience. He realized he was breathing heavily. It made sense—he felt like he'd just done the world's longest, most desperate tap-dancing routine.
But it looked like they were buying it.
Slowly, grudgingly, certainly against their better judgment...but still.
“Okay,” Skull said. “Maybe you're right. Maybe we can still pull this off. But if you want us to go forward with it, I've got two conditions, and they ain't negotiable.”
Bax nodded. Whatever the conditions were, he was sure they wouldn't be a problem.
“First, you want this girl to be part of the prize? Fine. You can consider her your cut of the loot. Your share of the money gets split up among the rest of us, as reparations for all the bullshit and hassle you've put us through.”
“Understood. Of course. That's completely fair.” Bax didn't love the idea of walking away from this score without any cash, especially since he'd have Stef with him. But he'd been broke before, and he'd always made enough moves to stay afloat. He was sure he'd manage this time, too.
And besides, maybe having a woman with him would open doors to newer, more lucrative scams. Why not?
“Second, when this is over, so are we.”
Bax blinked, surprised. “Hey, come on. I know things are tense right now and I've made some bad choices. I'm sorry, okay? But you don't mean that. I know you don't.”
Skull shook his head. “I made a mistake, calling you in on this. I thought I knew you, even though we hadn't seen each other for so long. I was wrong. And now that I do know you, I know you ain't my friend and you never will be. The only friend you've got is yourself, and I fucking pity you. And when this score's finished, I never want to see you or hea
r from you again.”
Bax couldn't believe it. Sure, he'd pulled some boneheaded stunts, and maybe he hadn't considered Skull's feelings the way he should have—but that was only because it was Skull, and they'd been so close as kids that he was sure Skull would always find some way to forgive him.
But looking into Skull's wounded eyes now, Bax realized he'd been wrong.
“Yeah. Okay. If that's what you want.”
“It is,” Skull rumbled. “Now tell us what the girl's part is gonna be in this plan of yours. I'm sure you've already got it all figured out.”
Bax laid out all of the steps for them.
When he was finished, they all nodded and got to work on their individual tasks without another word.
To Bax, their silence was deafening.
Chapter 26
Stef
Stef sat in bed reading, as she often did for much of the day.
Since she usually had nowhere to go, no one to see or talk to, no internet to surf, and no real desire to be around her parents, she generally confined herself to her room. There was a TV, but since it was the middle of the day, she knew that nothing would be on except trashy talk shows and soap operas. Her walls were lined with books—she'd read most of them dozens of times since childhood, and now she was flipping the dog-eared pages in her copy of Alexandre Dumas' “The Man in the Iron Mask.”
But even though it was one of her favorite stories, she found that this time, she could barely focus. She was too nervous and excited about her part in Bax's plan.
It seemed like it would work, and based on Bax's confident tone when he outlined it for her, she had no problem believing that he'd executed similar schemes on countless occasions and they'd all gone smoothly. He'd assured her that if it were truly dangerous, he wouldn't dream of involving her. And she trusted him, mostly because of the trust he'd shown in her by confiding that he wasn't who he'd pretended to be.
Still, she'd never done anything like this before, and the thought of getting caught gave her a scary thrill so intense that it rendered her light-headed and nauseous. There were times when seriously considering the risks—and the rewards—made her feel like she might actually faint. If they pulled it off, her father would be utterly ruined, and she'd never have to see him or her mother ever again.
But if they failed...
The photos of Arthur floated to the surface of her mind, no matter how much she tried to push them back down. Bax's fate would surely be something like that. Would her punishment be the same? Lighter, since she was a member of the family?
Or even worse, since she'd betrayed it?
Stef tried to bury herself in the book again, but no matter what position she was in, her body didn't feel comfortable. Her own skin seemed strange to her somehow, like her body belonged to someone else—she tried to make sense of these vague and disquieting sensations, but understanding seemed just beyond her reach. Jitters crawled through her body in waves like armies of insects, and there were frequent, intense cramps in her abdomen. It felt like she was getting sick, but she was sure these were just symptoms of anxiety.
The book brushed against her breasts as she shifted positions again, and she was surprised to discover that they were sore. She frowned. Had Bax pinched them or bitten them the last time he'd made love to her? She couldn't remember, but even if he had, it seemed odd that they'd still feel so tender.
And the more she thought about it, the more she was sure he hadn't actually touched her breasts at all.
There was something else, too. Ever since Bax had come through her window three nights ago, it seemed like her parents were looking at her differently. Her father barely spoke to her, and her mother barely looked at her. It was another reason she'd sequestered herself in her room so completely. Their eyes seemed hard, flat, and suspicious whenever she was in the room.
But surely, they couldn't know what Bax was planning, or that Stef was involved? If they did, they'd have confronted her about it instead of giving her the cold shoulder.
Wouldn't they?
Stef shook her head, trying to clear it. These thoughts were tying her brain in knots.
No...not her brain. Her stomach.
She tossed the book aside and got up, running to the bathroom down the hall. She barely made it to the toilet before she threw up, sinking to her knees on the chilly porcelain tiles.
As she flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth, she took this as confirmation that she was coming down with something. That made sense—stress, both positive and negative, could lower the immune system enough for some stomach bug to slip in. And between her delight at the prospect of running away with Bax and her dread of being caught, this was definitely the most stress she'd ever felt in her life.
Then she made a mental list of her symptoms, leaned over, and vomited again.
No, she thought. No, no, no. This can't be happening. Not now. Not in the middle of all this.
Stef had often fantasized about having a baby—in a different world, as a different person from a different family. The father would be someone she chose for herself, who she loved with all her heart. They'd give their baby all of their adoration and attention, filling its life with joy. They'd play with it and hold it and kiss it and listen to it, and they'd do anything to help it make its dreams come true, no matter what. Deep down, Stef believed that the only real way to erase the damage her parents had done to her would be to ensure that when she had a child of her own, it would be happy, and free to live its own life.
But in those fantasies, she was married to the baby's father, and her life was stable and sunny. In real life, she was involved in a conspiracy to defraud her own father, and she was about to run off into a perilous and uncertain future with a wandering con man.
The circumstances were hardly ideal.
And when she told Bax, what then? Given the choices he'd made in life, she had a hard time believing he'd be delighted by the news. It was unlikely that someone who made a living roaming the country and scamming people would be eager to settle down and start a family. What if he decided to leave her behind once the con was over?
She thought of the look in his eyes when he'd told her that he came from a background that was similar to hers. She wished she had pressed him for more information. It would make it easier for her to believe that he really would take her away from all this, even if he knew she was...
God, could she even bear to think the word, let alone say it?
...pregnant. Even if he knew she was pregnant.
Stop being silly, she chided herself. Even you don't know that you're pregnant. Not really. The signs seem to point to “yes,” but plenty of other women have probably been wrong before.
For her part of the plot against her father, Stef would have to sneak out of the house anyway. Not easy, but not wholly impossible, either—she'd managed it a time or two, when it was important. Before she went to the address that Bax had written down for her, she could duck into a drug store and buy a pregnancy test.
Then she'd be sure. Then she could tell him, if she needed to.
Stef washed her mouth out, splashed some cold water on her face, and returned to her bedroom. As she passed her parents' room, her mother glared out at her for a moment before slamming the door.
She got back into bed, picked up the book, and stared at the words on the pages without reading them.
Chapter 27
Bax
Bax stood on the waterfront at the end of St. Peter Street, watching the steamboats paddle back and forth in the Mississippi River.
He wondered if he'd ever be able to visit New Orleans again once this con was over. He supposed he might not, and the thought made him sad as he remembered all of the trips his family had taken to The Big Easy when he was a kid. Since then, he'd seen just about every city America had to offer. Some were beautiful, some were thrilling, some were dangerous—but none of them had ever seduced him the way New Orleans had, with its jazz and voodoo and tall tales. To him, it would alwa
ys be the most magical place in the world.
But as long as he had Stef with him wherever he went, he figured he could still be happy.
Mule was positioned at Bax's right side, and when Bax saw him shift his considerable weight, he turned and saw Benny and Silvio walking toward them. Benny was still disheveled, but he didn't look confused and unfocused anymore.
If anything, he looked pissed as hell.
I don't like that, Bax thought. Whatever gave him that look, it definitely wasn't part of the plan. And this is too late a stage to start dealing with surprises.
“Thank you for meeting with me,” Bax said. “I have news.”
